When it comes to the idea of a supreme being I am an apathetic agnostic. Our motto of “We don’t know and we don’t care” seems to sum up exactly how I feel about gods, religions, and all that other stuff. I don’t hate those things, but I don’t care for them either. That was not always the case though. I used to be religious.

It was a long time ago but I still think about it to this day because I feel it’s important to understand how experiences completely shape who we are. My experiences were mainly shaped by the very conservative and religious mid-Michigan town I grew up in. Luckily, I was born to a family that had a religious past, but wasn’t overly religious in its own right making my upbringing atypical among my peers. The pressure to conform was too great however, and by my middle school years I found what I thought was god. Time has since shown me that was not god, but was instead my own inner dialogue but with an artificial authority. By the time I was a sophomore in high school I was thoroughly convinced that my concept of god was critically flawed and began looking for more answers. They did not come and considering the fact that a good 90% of my friends were overtly religious and the other 10% seemed to be religious to a lesser degree it was no wonder I felt out of place and simply chose to live a lie to make my life easier until another opportunity presented itself.

College was that opportunity and I flourished in the environment it provided. There were a token few who were religious, but for the most part it didn’t seem to play a huge role in the lives of my new friends and was a complete 180 from what I knew in my hometown. By this point in my life I knew for a fact that religion wasn’t for me, but I was still unsure about the question of a god’s existence. In fact, I’m still unsure, hence my agnosticism. In practice I live my life as an atheist but hold out on the explicit denial of an atheist or antitheist and I’m happy with my position because it meshes with the rest of my worldview based on naturalistic materialism (the pretentious way of saying science).

So now I’m happy with my lack of a belief system based on a non-natualistic philosophy. I don’t know if there is a god(s) and based on what people have told me of their various gods I don’t care to know or worship any of them.

Wow, there’s only one truth? Never would have guessed that one. (/sarcasm) The difference between you and me is that you cannot have evidence for your truth that stands up to any scrutiny while I (as a “scientist”) can. (on a side note, anyone who puts quotes around the word scientist in an effort to diminish its meaning is fucking retarded)

I CAN’T know whether there is a god with ANY certainty (and neither can you), so why the hell should I care? No, I’m going to live my life according to humanist principles and do what I can to help humanity because it’s the right thing to do and not to please some god who is most likely a figment of people’s imaginations.

How could a scientist possibly know for a fact that there is one truth when the only evidence for that so-called “truth” is an ancient text written over the course of hundreds of years by hundreds of men and placed into a “holy” canon by the Catholic Church in order to keep medieval people in line?

Funny how the same people who believe the Bible verbatim also don’t consider Catholicism to be a true version of Christianity. In that case, might want to think about finding a new text to study ad nauseum.

Well, you didn’t say “scientist” so I guess it’s a small step in the right direction, but again you fail at reading comprehension. In no way have I said there is evidence that there is no such thing as a god. What I said was that it’s impossible to know because you can’t apply materialistic evidence (science) to a nonmaterial entity. Basically, there is no negative or positive evidence for ANY god. The evidence simply does not exist either for or against the existence of a god.

You have as much evidence for the god in which you believe as there is for Apollo, Shiva, or a fertility god from a small tribe in south Africa: none. Get over it.

If I’m so obviously wrong then you should be able to show me with specific examples. Alas, you can’t, at least not without playing the “god of the gaps” strategy.

I can see why you act the way you do though. You’ve been spoon-fed this god bullshit your whole life. People you love, respect, and admire believe it, so you think you should as well. I mean, they’re intelligent, right? By now you’ve built your whole life around the idea that there is a supernatural being looking over you from on high and you find it deeply comforting. In an effort to make certain your biases stay confirmed you have molded your beliefs so that EVERYTHING reinforces the faith in your god. You fear losing your god so much that you will literally do anything to not lose your faith even when deep down you know there’s nothing to it.

Really, you’re deceiving yourself. I’m trying to take an objective stance; something I hope an intelligent god, should one exist, would appreciate in a simple ape.

Have fun trying to get on god’s good side so you can get into heaven. I’m going to try and help humanity because it’s the right thing to do. And mark my words; I don’t care today, and I won’t tomorrow.

Apathy is certainly the easy way out, when it comes to belief systems. Certainly, organised religion is wrong in so many ways — if you rule it out, then it simply leaves spirituality, or not.

You either believe in there being something greater than ourselves (which is an innate belief that most humans have — claimed to be genetic?), or you believe we’re lumps of meat that walk around for 80 years, and die.

It’s very hard to say which one is right, and which is wrong. However, it IS safe to say that some people find solace in prayer/meditation/spirituality, and some people much prefer to believe everything can be solved in terms of the physical universe.

I’m a scientist myself, though not academically so. Perhaps more of an engineer. I like to poke around at things and find out WHY and HOW!

I disagree that apathy is the easy way out. Going with the flow and simply accepting something without evidence is much easier than digging deep and questioning what it is you think you already know (especially considering how atheism/agnosticism is viewed in today’s fairly religious society). Digging deeper into what sort of evidence people use to prop up their belief in a god is what lead me to being agnostic, and the fact that it is a question that is not only unknown, but unknowable, led me to be apathetic. In fact, it has been a long and arduous journey, but at least I’m happy with the result.